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Simple Summary: We investigated the effect of climate change on the potential distribution of 268 Testudines species and evaluated their future conservation status. Our analysis revealed that over half of these species are projected to experience a contraction in their distribution ranges due to climate change, leading to an increase in endangered species. In particular, three species currently classified as critically endangered—Three-striped roofed turtle (Batagur dhongoka), Durango mud turtle (Kinosternon durangoense), and Colombian mud turtle (Kinosternon dunni)—demonstrated over 80% potential distribution range reduction under future climate scenarios, resulting in the highest extinction risk. Additionally, our findings suggest that climate change may have positive effects on some Testudines species, with certain species potentially experiencing an expansion in their distribution ranges under future climate scenarios. Climate change promotes variations in distribution ranges, potentially leading to biodiversity loss and increased extinction risks for species. It is crucial to investigate these variations under future climate change scenarios for effective biodiversity conservation. Here, we studied the future distribution ranges of 268 Testudoformes species under climate change using habitat models, specifically species distribution models (SDMs), to assess their conservation status. Our results have indicated that over half of species are projected to experience declines in their potential distribution ranges under two scenarios. In particular, we found that three critically endangered species—Three-striped roofed turtle (Batagur dhongoka), Durango mud turtle (Kinosternon durangoense), and Colombian mud turtle (Kinosternon dunni)—displayed extraction of their distribution ranges and faced extinction under global climate change. Additionally, our analysis revealed that the potential distribution ranges of some species might increase under future climate scenarios. However, these findings must be interpreted with caution as they do not account for other significant factors such as biological invasions, population structure, land-use change, anthropogenic disturbances, and inter-organism interrelationships. Future studies should incorporate these factors to provide a more comprehensive assessment of extinction risks. Our findings suggest that climate change, in conjunction with habitat degradation and human activities, must be considered when assessing the extinction risks of Testudoformes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to investigate the effect of wall roughness on linear loss in circular pipelines. It specifically addresses hemispherical roughness, focusing on how changes in spacing influence linear loss, a critical determinant of fluid motion within pipelines. The simulations further assess the impact of these variables on flow characteristics, laying a theoretical groundwork for drag reduction and pipeline design improvement. Results indicate that increased spacing between roughness elements reduces the differential pressure at both pipeline ends. The dimensionless spacing value of 30 stabilizes this pressure, suggesting a limit to further changes. Additionally, a rise in roughness height at this spacing exacerbates differential pressure, highlighting a proportional relationship between roughness dimensions and linear loss—greater roughness leads to higher linear loss. Applying a nickel-plated coating on the inner wall significantly lowers roughness, thereby reducing linear loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climatic change is a challenge for plant conservation due to plants' limited dispersal abilities. The survival and sustainable development of plants directly depend on the availability of suitable habitats. In this study, we employed an optimized MaxEnt model to evaluate the relative contribution of each environmental variable and predict the suitable habitat for Alsophila costularis under past, current, and future periods, which is an endangered relict tree fern known as a living fossil. For the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and Mid‐Holocene scenarios, we adopted two atmosphere–ocean general circulation models: CCSM4 and MIROC‐ESM. The BCC‐CSM2‐MR model was used for future projections. The results revealed that temperature annual range (Bio7) contributed most to the model construction with an optimal range of 13.74–22.44°C. Species distribution modeling showed that current suitable areas were mainly located in most areas of Yunnan, most areas of Hainan, most areas of Taiwan, southeastern Tibet, southwestern Guizhou, western Guangxi, southern Sichuan, and southern Guangdong, with an area of 35.90 × 104 km2. The suitable habitat area expanded northward in Yunnan from the Last Interglacial to the LGM under the CCSM4 model, while a significant contraction toward southwestern Yunnan was found under the MIROC‐ESM model. Furthermore, the potential distributions during the Mid‐Holocene were more widespread in Yunnan compared to those under current period. It is predicted that in the future, the range will significantly expand to northern Yunnan and western Guizhou. Almost all centroids of suitable habitats were distributed in southeastern Yunnan under different periods. The stable areas were located in southwestern Yunnan in all scenarios. The simulation results could provide a theoretical basis for the formulation of reasonable conservation and management measures to mitigate the effects of future climate change for A. costularis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a summary of a special issue in the journal Biology that focuses on the conservation and evolution of wildlife in the context of climate change and human population growth. The issue includes five articles that cover a range of topics related to wildlife conservation. Three articles use species distribution models to predict suitable habitats for endangered species under future climate change. Another article explores variations in egg and clutch size in high-altitude birds, while the final article examines the cultural and medicinal significance of birds and mammals in a national park in Pakistan. The articles provide valuable insights into the effects of climate change and human activity on wildlife conservation and offer suggestions for conservation managers. It is worth noting that all the articles are based on studies conducted in Asian countries, which adds novelty to the research. [Extracted from the article]

Simple Summary: This study uses Maxent models to explore the impact of global climate change on the potential distribution of 5282 reptile species and to estimate their future conservation status. The analysis reveals that over 52.1% of reptile species are experiencing a decrease in their distributional ranges due to global climate change, resulting in a rapid increase in the number of threatened species. However, some reptiles are experiencing an expansion in their potential distribution range under climate change, leading to 91 endangered species being reclassified as least-concern species. Global climate change drives variations in species distribution patterns and affects biodiversity, potentially increasing the risk of species extinction. Investigating the potential distribution range of species under future global climate change is crucial for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management. In this study, we collected distributional data for 5282 reptile species to assess their conservation status based on distributional ranges using species distribution models. Our predictions indicate that the potential distribution ranges for over half of these species are projected to decrease under different scenarios. Under future scenarios with relatively low carbon emissions, the increase in the number of threatened reptiles is significantly lower, highlighting the importance of human efforts. Surprisingly, we identified some endangered species that are projected to expand their distribution ranges, underscoring the potential positive effects of climate change on some special species. Our findings emphasize the increased extinction risk faced by reptile species due to climate change and highlight the urgent need to mitigate the effects of habitat degradation and human activities on their potential distribution in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cavitation effect of lubricating film has a significant impact on the seal performance of hydrodynamic pressure mechanical seals.Kerosene-based magnetic fluid lubrication upstream pumping mechanical seal with inclined groove was taken as the research object.By considering the cavitation heat effect as well as the viscous temperature effect, the calculation model of lubricating fluid film was established to study the influences of working conditions and structural parameters on the seal performances using the volume fraction of gas phase in the liquid film as an indicator, and the results were compared with those based on the model only considering the viscous temperature effect. It is found that, due to the cavitation heat model considering the variation of saturated vapor pressure of liquid film medium with temperature,the opening force, leakage rate and volume fraction of vapor phase when considering the thermal effect of cavitation are smaller than the corresponding results when considering the viscosity-temperature effect only, but the variation regularity of each parameter is basically the same under the two conditions. The cavitation effect is enhanced by increasing the rotational speed and the groove diameter ratio, while the cavitation effect is weakened by increasing the inlet pressure, film thickness, radial angle and number of grooves. An increase in rotational speed, groove depth, radial angle, and groove diameter ratio will lead to an increase in leakage rate, while an increase in inlet pressure and groove number can improve sealing performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amniotes differ substantially in absolute and relative brain size after controlling for allometry, and numerous hypotheses have been proposed to explain brain size evolution. Brain size is thought to correlate with processing capacity and the brain's ability to support complex manipulation such as nest‐building skills. The increased complexity of nest structure is supposed to be a measure of an ability to manipulate nesting material into the required shape. The degree of nest‐structure complexity is also supposed to be associated with body mass, partly because small species lose heat faster and delicate and insulated nests are more crucial for temperature control of eggs during incubation by small birds. Here, we conducted comparative analyses to test these hypotheses by investigating whether the complexity of species‐typical nest structure can be explained by brain size and body mass (a covariate also to control for allometric effects on brain size) across 1353 bird species from 147 families. Consistent with these hypotheses, our results revealed that avian brain size increases as the complexity of the nest structure increases after controlling for a significant effect of body size, and also that a negative relationship exists between nest complexity and body mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal‐organic frameworks recently have been burgeoning and used as precursors to obtain various metal–nitrogen–carbon catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Although rarely studied, Mn–N–C is a promising catalyst for ORR due to its weak Fenton reaction activity and strong graphitization catalysis. Here, we developed a facile strategy for anchoring the atomically dispersed nitrogen‐coordinated single Mn sites on carbon nanosheets (MnNCS) from an Mn‐hexamine coordination framework. The atomically dispersed Mn–N4 sites were dispersed on ultrathin carbon nanosheets with a hierarchically porous structure. The optimized MnNCS displayed an excellent ORR performance in half‐cells (0.89 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) in base and 0.76 V vs. RHE in acid in half‐wave potential) and Zn–air batteries (233 mW cm−2 in peak power density), along with significantly enhanced stability. Density functional theory calculations further corroborated that the Mn–N4–C12 site has favorable adsorption of *OH as the rate‐determining step. These findings demonstrate that the metal‐hexamine coordination framework can be used as a model system for the rational design of highly active atomic metal catalysts for energy applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]